(Photo
by
Ben
Hider/Getty
Images)
I’ve
not
been
keeping
up
with
The
Chase,
the
ABC
primetime
game
show
that
offers
Jeopardy’s
Trinity
of
Ken
Jennings,
Brad
Rutter,
and
James
Holzhauer
to
beat
random
folks
senseless
at
trivia.
Which
is
too
bad,
because
a
few
weeks
ago
they
asked
a
question
that
harkened
back
to
one
of
the
greatest
days
in
the
history
of
this
website.
The
day
that
George
Mason
University
School
of
Law
took
its
reputation
as
the
Island
of
Misfit
FedSoc
Profs
and
double
down
as
a
law
school
dedicated
publicly
to
the
right-wing
argle-bargle
that
was
Antonin
Scalia’s
legacy.
They
just
miffed
that
name
change
a
bit.
Option
3
is…
wow.
In
any
event,
the
question
brings
back
sweet
memories,
even
if
crediting
“Twitter
users”
seems
like
a
bit
of
a
slight
to
this
particular
website.
The
year
was
2016,
and
it
was
March
31.
With
April
Fools’
Day
around
the
corner,
everyone
in
the
office
was
a
little
skeptical
to
see
an
announcement
that
George
Mason
University
would
rename
its
law
school
the
“Antonin
Scalia
School
of
Law.”
Within
moments
of
hearing
the
news,
we
were
already
tamping
down
speculation,
claiming
that
this
had
to
be
a
joke:
I
call
SHENANIGANS.
This
is
an
early
April
Fool’s
joke.
SHENANIGANS
I
SAY.
https://t.co/ZCT7xVEikp—
Elie
Mystal
(@ElieNYC)
March
31,
2016
But
it
wasn’t!
In
fact,
what
had
happened
was
the
school
had
apparently
tried
to
give
the
Wall
Street
Journal
an
exclusive
on
the
announcement
but
gotten
scooped
by
Nina
Totenberg,
causing
the
administration
to
go
into
a
crisis
mode
that
they
dealt
with
by
refusing
to
comment
on
inquiries
for
hours,
only
fueling
more
speculation
that
this
had
to
be
a
gag.
I
was
attending
a
conference
out
of
the
office
that
day
so
I
was
furiously
corresponding
with
the
other
editors
over
chat
as
the
news
broke.
“How
can
we
confirm
this?”
“Are
these
sources
just
playing
along
with
the
elaborate
gag?”
“Did
they
really
con
Nina
Totenberg?”
While
we
waited
for
answers
to
these
questions,
it
took
a
while
to
even
notice
the
acronym
in
front
of
us.
“I
remember
that
initially
I
was
going
to
write
about
how
it
was
kind
of
disrespectful
*to
Scalia*
to
name
a
law
school
after
him
whose
students
Scalia
himself
would
never
hire,”
Elie
Mystal
told
me
today.
I’d
estimate
it
took
about
10-15
minutes
of
shock
over
the
mere
fact
that
a
public
university
would
name
a
school
after
a
naked
partisan
before
someone
tried
typing
out
the
acronym.
I
don’t
remember
who
did
it
first,
but
as
soon
as
it
came
up,
we
doubled
down
on
our
faith
that
this
was
an
elaborate
prank.
Right
up
until
it
wasn’t.
We
weren’t
exactly
sure
which
nickname
would
stick
that
day.
I
always
preferred
this
version
because
I
thought
it
said
a
little
something
more
about
how
history
should
remember
the
honoree.
George
Mason
Law
is
changing
its
name
to
“ASS
of
Law”
and
it’s
incredible.
#lawschool—
Joe
Patrice
(@JosephPatrice)
March
31,
2016
Must
say,
I’m
really
enjoying
following
the
#ASSLaw
and
#ASSoL
hashtags,
but
students
&
alums
of
@GeorgeMasonLaw
don’t
seem
very
pleased.
:/—
Staci
Zaretsky
(@stacizaretsky)
April
1,
2016
But
brevity
will
always
win
out.
About
two
hours
earlier,
Twitter
user
@ChancellorDaws
coined
#ASSLaw
and
Tweeted
multiple
times
to
give
it
momentum.
Five
other
accounts
—
all
with
fewer
than
a
couple
hundred
followers
—
mentioned
it
in
the
interim
before
Elie
decided
to
make
#ASSLaw
canon
in
a
post
published
about
an
hour
after
we
received
real
confirmation:
.@GeorgeMasonLaw
is
changing
its
name
to
Antonin
Scalia
School
of
Law.
Welcome,
#ASSLaw
students!
https://t.co/bhdbpZNrCL—
Above
the
Law
(@atlblog)
March
31,
2016
And
the
rout
was
on.
So
to
some
extent,
“Twitter
users”
is
a
correct
definition
of
who
blew
up
George
Mason’s
nonsense
to
the
extent
that
the
intrepid
Chancellor
was
the
first
to
put
it
out
into
the
Twitter
ether
and
the
fact
that
Above
the
Law
does
have
its
own
Twitter
account.
But
in
another,
far
more
accurate
way,
the
question
should
read
“until
Above
the
Law
pointed
out
its
unfortunate
acronym”
since
that’s
the
moment
that
hundreds
upon
hundreds
of
instances
of
the
hashtag
started.
Though
this
oversight
is
not
entirely
the
fault
of
The
Chase,
because
the
history
was
intentionally
obscured
by
the
ASSLaw
administration,
who
tried
to
rebrand
the
school
as
“Antonin
Scalia
Law
School”
a
few
days
later,
citing
a
vague
“acronym
controversy
on
social
media.”
And,
weirdly,
other
media
outlets
that
took
up
the
story
kept
repeating
the
idea
that
this
was
an
organic,
grassroots
phenomenon
instead
of
something
directly
stoked
by
the
established
snarkmongers
of
the
legal
industry:
Take
this
story
on
the
WSJ
Law
Blog:
the
Wall
Street
Journal
would
have
never
referenced
ASSLaw,
even
obliquely
as
they
do
here,
but
for
the
fact
that
George
Mason’s
struggle
against
it
is
now,
itself,
a
“story.”
And
they
link
out
(not
to Above
the
Law’s
story,
which
they
should
have,
instead
of
being
dicks
about
it)
to
a full
discussion
of
ASSoL.
Alas,
it’s
just
worth
it
to
have
played
a
role
in
getting
the
ball
rolling
on
this.
Whether
one
credits
the
ChancellorDaws
account
for
coming
up
with
the
tag
first,
Above
the
Law
for
blasting
it
to
the
masses,
or
the
thousands
of
you
all
who’ve
taken
that
ball
and
run
it
down
GMU’s
throat,
it’s
been
a
wonderful
journey
to
watch
a
cultural
phenomenon
—
even
one
in
this
crazy
little
niche
called
law
—
become
so
entrenched
that
game
shows
ask
the
greatest
TV
trivia
master
of
all
time
a
question
about
it
five
years
later.
Earlier:
George
Mason
Law
Changing
Name
To
Antonin
Scalia
School
Of
Law
#ASSLaw
At
George
Mason
Attempts
Re-Brand,
Will
Fail
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.